Battle of the Azure Sea
Aki crossed the deck of the Rhlaysian Chuan sailing ship, the Raging Crab. Beyond the railing was the glittering waters of the Azure sea, dusk settling on the horizon. There was nothing to do here now but wait for the final confrontation. He, along with his brothers in arms of the Emerald Cranes regiment were mounted on several of the bamboo and junk rigged sailing ships and turtle ships throughout the harbor of White City. The many high towers of the city glowed brilliantly with warmth, and Aki suspected that unfortunately for him, there would be little stars to watch this night. "Tell me," Zhen Yan, one of his many friends in the Cranes, said with excitement, "how long until the red devils reach our lines?" Aki turned, smiling as a warm summer breeze passed by. "About an hour, our captain says." "Will we be able to defeat them? I hear they bring Hell itself." "Those are merely stories, Zhen, they are used to instill fear into their enemies, you should know that, you've met plenty of Tieflings." "And I've always been disgusted with them!" "Stow it." The half-elf soldier grunted, pulling off his samurai helm. Zhen was of a northern province of Rlaysia, thus speaking in a thick northern accent, and wearing their lamaller armor, while Aki wore the southern, more traditional o-yoroi which was present more in the armies of the wall and Roku's foothills. Aki's black hair whipped with the wind, cooling it down, and he hoped it would bring the sweat with it. Fireheim was bloody hot this year. He looked over at Zhen, who was staring out at the lands of Eastern Corgana. Zhen was only twenty, and Aki looked not a day older than he due to his mother's cursed blood. The half-elf was 87, and no matter how young he did look, the weight of age sat upon his shoulders, growing by the day. He pouted as a bell tolled on the Star Dragon, the ship of their general, Hyun Ki Kim. This meant that the enemy was in sight. Aki looked up, his eyes going wide at the sight of the hundreds of rebel Tiefling ships. They did bring forth Hell itself. - - - Aki's one hand gripped the railing tightly, his knuckle's white. "Aki!" Zhen called to him as archers sporting massive yumi bows lined up along the main deck, lighting fire arrows as the wind pulled the enemy fleet toward them as though it were some playful child in a sandbox. Aki's eyes narrowed, and he grabbed the hilt of his one-edged blade and pulled it free with a click. As he did, the archers loosed their arrows, and the skies across the harbor were alight with flame. The rebels began firing back, and several wide-bladed and very deadly-looking arrows streaked through the sails of the Raging Crab. As a few thundered across the deck by Aki's sandaled feet, he watched across the sea as a turtle ship belched flame from its dragon head directly into a Tiefling ship, the Rhlaysian soldiers clambering upon the deck to board the enemy. "Aki! Damn it!" He turned as Zhen snatched him out of the way of a massive bolt, that crashed into the deck. "We need to get to the damn front! The Crab's not gonna make it, and I doubt we can swim before we have our backs cut. "Where are the rowboats!?" Aki asked him. He was no coward, he did not want to leave the fight. He just did not want to die without a fight. The death rain continued to hail upon their heads as they ran beneath the top deck, a light rain beginning to trickle down and put out all the fires, and making the city lights go dim. The rowboats had been smashed, a single figure stood by them in a black robe. It turned, revealing itself to be a masked Tiefling figure with two maces. Aki charged without second thought, ducking the first mace, landing on his balled fist, and pushing up, kicking the red humanoid in the lower jaw and sending blood and teeth flying. He flipped upright and cut the figure down. "How'd they get on!?" Zhen asked, his double-edged shortsword in hand. Shouts from above stole their attention, and they ran up to see that the Crab's top deck was covered with blood, rain and charred bamboo. The stench of death was so strong here, too strong. There was a reason Aki regretted his mother's blood sometimes. All of those bodies in one big pile. A Tiefling rebel vessel, twice the size of the Crab had boarded, its passangers rushing about, dueling the soldiers of the far west. "I don't know, but we have to take them out." Aki grunted, bringing up his blade and sending it down in a mighty arc into the shoulder of a Tiefling warrior, the woman fell with a shrill, gurgling cry. The two hacked their way through the bloodbath, and up the black boarding ramp onto the enemy vessel. Aki lashed out with his foot, sending an enemy over the railing into the seas as the rain began to pick up, a dense fog rolling in and caused the entire battle to dissappear save for the noises of battlecries and the ringing of steel on steel. The enemy vessel was wide, and had more than enough enemies on it. More than Aki wanted there to be, anyways. An arrow hit him in the stump that was once his left-arm. He cried out in pain as another rebel, a lithe Tiefling male in full chain armor rushed him. He brought his blade up to parry but the rain caused him to slip, and though he ran the rebel through, the man had cut down Zhen behind him, who was now propped against the black wood of the mast, holding his torn cotton scarf to the wound. "Zhen!" He cried, the cold rain filling him with more dread than was needed. Aki had been under the tutelege of Zhen's father, whom he had known his entire life. The two of them had joined the Cranes when the war began. His eyes welled up with tears, "Zhen!" "I am fine, Aki. Go." "Go where!?" He waved his blood-drenched steel at the murky fog surrounding them, "There is nowhere to go!!" The boy raised a bloody hand, pointing at something behind the one-armed warrior. Aki turned, and through his matted, wet hair he could barely make out a strange device at the top of the ship, next to the wheel. He flicked the blood from his blade and bounded up the steps. Another rebel warrior rushed him, but he was running to fast, and tackled the enemy to the wet deck. The two combatents rolled through the pouring rain, which did not falter. Thunder clapped in the harbor as Aki attempted to wrestle the man's sword from his hand. He kneed the warrior in the groin, and was finally able to run him through. Aki stood, walking up to the device cautiously. Was this what Zhen had been pointing at? It was an orb of glass, pounted on some sort of steel pedestal. A great BOOM erupted from his left and burning debris, along with the dragon head of a turtle ship, flew over his head through the storm. Aki sheathed his blade and gripped the orb, picking it up in his gloved hand. It grew hot, too hot even for him. His glove caught fire, and he dropped it in surprise, letting it roll a carpet of flame across the deck, and down the stairs. Aki, after pulling off the glove by tucking it under his steel-plated armpit, ran after the orb, which was now carressing with blue bolts of ethereal energies. "What...!?" He called, as another rebel, a young girl, rushed him. He blocked as she caught sight of the orb. She dropped her weapon, and immidietely ran and performed a dive into the black, stormy sea. Aki watched the orb as it finally hit the boarding ramp the rebels had placed and began to roll down onto the fog-shrouded Raging Crab. Within moments, blue and purple lightning bolts cascaded across the black heavens, and smashed down like pillars. Aki began to rise up into the sky, and he began to swim through the air, panicking. What was this? Did Zhen know? Did he plan this? He turned to see a tornado form, sucking up water, ships and buildings. And then his vision went completely white. - - - Aki awoke on the shoreline, sunlight ripping through his tired eyelids. With him were several corpses, both human and Tiefling and chunks of debris. His sword was snug in its sheath, covered in wet sand by his side. Looking up, he saw White City's harbor blown apart. Not a single soul survived, of both naval fleets most likely. He did not want to wait around for anyone to see him, or to have his throat cut. This was his fault, he did this. He let his armor fall to the ground, and pulled free the braid from his hair, letting it fall. Now he dashed into the woodland in nothing but his kimono, with nothing but his sword. Aki had many useful skills. He would live off of the land for several years, and maybe find work in Corgana or some eastern land. He just hoped that he would appear in the obituaries in Rhlaysia the next day. He would hate for this entire fiasco to be blamed on him. He did this, he picked up that orb, he killed them all. But what was the orb? Hell itself?